Amid Censorship, Israel’s Media Does Its Part

In the end, Israel’s makeshift prison camp at Ashdod got its money’s worth.

Though the victims of last night’s attack on one of the aid ships were quietly ferried to Haifa amid secrecy, the Israeli press had already arrived at Ashdod, and their they remained, dutifully covering the five ships that were captured without a massacre.

Faced with an official story from the military that flies in the face of all reason and a domestic population so jingoistic that there are now calls for boycotts of Turkey for complaining about the massacre and reports of Israelis flocking to the coast to “support” the attack, Israel’s media has chosen the low road, the one carefully couched in patriotism and praise for the right-far-right coalition government.

Israel’s government has vigorously cheered the attack and the ensuing massacre, claiming the aid workers were secretly “terrorists” that had al-Qaeda ties, and lauding the “great restraint” of their soldiers in massacring only 19 of them.

Internationally the media coverage has been decidedly mixed, with early outrage giving way to a predictable acceptance of the Israeli military’s stance. What was once being called an “attack” or a “massacre” was now a “battle” and aid workers became “pro-Palestinian activists.”

For those who thought the ramming of a previous aid ship and the kidnapping of the crew of another aid ship were outrageous, there is palpable incredulity at the blase reaction to Israeli commandos mowing down the crew of a civilian aid ship. Given the decades of practice Israel has had at spinning civilian massacres as “self defense,” however, it is perhaps not surprisingly that they’ve gotten quite adept at it.

Of course the US gov will do what it did yesterday and block any real action.

The answer of course is that we need a new government. We've got our chance at a new House this fall, and 1/3 of a new Senate.

340+ representatives voted in favor of Israeli war crimes and condemned the Goldstone report. Every single one of those should be out of our Congress by next January.

Any American politician who says that supporting Israel is important should be immediately kicked out of office as a traitor. By definition, a politician that represents us should be looking after our interests. If they want to look after Israel's interests, let them run for a Knesset seat.

Its insanity for a country to elect representatives who put the security and welfare of another country ahead of their own.

And its insane to on one hand say we can't have either tax cuts or stimulus because of the deficit, but then give $5 billion a year or more to another country. Its traitorous to give that money to another country when we need it here at home during the worst economic downturn since the great depression.

Its time to end treason in America. And its pure treason for a government official to put the interests of another country ahead of its own.

I now suspect ,after watching them celebrate their "great victory" on youtube singing, dancing etc. (outside the Turkish embassy in Israel) that maybe they should be "put down" like the "mad dogs" that they are.

So you're advocating the extermination of millions of Israelis, because in your own twisted, delusional version of reality they're all "mad dogs".

Hmm. Sounds like you're a frothing-at-the-mouth rabid mutt yourself!

By the way, those Israelis who demonstrated were responding to the attempted lynching of their soldiers. The truly sick joke is that the bloodthirsty bastards who greeted them with clubs and knives were supposedly on a "humanitarian" mission. They were a lynch mob, plain and simple. And there's tons of footage of their barbarism, for all the world to see.

When heavily armed pirates are boarding your ship, you fight back with whatever is at hand. The pirates deserved much more than they sustained. If the Turkish government makes good on it's promise to provide military escorts to the next flotilla, we'll see how those pirates respond. Attacking relatively unarmed civilians is one thing…easy for cowards…maybe other countries will add to the military escorts; that will be fun to watch!

You're not an advocate for liberty. You're an advocate for brutal violence against a people you hate.

They were soldiers, not "pirates". Israel didn't intend to pillage and plunder. And if it was a purely "humanitarian" mission, why were they linked to terrorists?

Also, if dozens of thugs came at you with knives and metal clubs, beating you senseless, you wouldn't call them "relatively unarmed". Only a dishonest, propaganda-spewing bigot would call them "relatively unarmed".

And should any hostile armada of "military escorts" threaten Israel, you and your ilk won't be the ones finding it "fun to watch".

Illegally boarding a ship in international waters (no Israeli jurisdiction) makes them pirates. As for links to terrorism, according to who? Israel? Slight credibility problem? ROFLMAO!!! If a few dozen "thugs" came at me with knives and metal clubs because I was breaking into their house (or boat), I'd deserve it. So, "Dissenting View", which office of Mossad do you work in? Do you really think that Israel has a bat's chance in hell of survival, long term? If so, I've a lovely bridge for you at a bargain price.

Keep posting here at antiwar; we need some laughs in the midst of all of the Israeli-sponsored bloodshed.

I suggest you sail into their blockade and pretend you're on a "humanitarian" mission. Translation: Be sure to bring along plenty of iron bars and knives. Greet their soldiers like the friendly, docile "peace activist" and exquisitely civilized "antiwar" individual you clearly are.

Oh, and let's just leave aside for the moment the profoundly ironic spectacle of a regular contributor to a site called "antiwar.com" salivating as he asks, ever so peacefully, "who takes out Israel, and when?"

If, however, I were going to confront a gang of thieves and pirates such as the IDF, I'd be bringing along plenty of ASMs.

FYI, I do not blindly advocate peace: if, while minding ones own business (like the flotilla) one is threatened with lethal force, one has the absolute right to meet that threat with all the firepower available. Eventually, someone will come to the table with bigger guns than the Israelis and, like most bullies, they'll get their asses kicked on the path to becoming just another nasty little footnote in history.

The Israeli are in unanimity,very proud by what soldiers did.Like in the Gaza massacre when Israeli people went on hills to see the killings such today they feel good that a lesson was given to islamo-fascist.But why wonder they are learnt that everyone ,could this the American President,opposes Israel then that one is put in a list of enemies of Israel;Pharaohs,Persans kings,Roman kings,Hitler,Nasser,Arafat,Ahmadinejad,and Obama.Bush was an allied.But the world is a world of amaleks .And this country is called by the others "free countries" a vibrant democracy,of the Western type of states.Maybe this is true.

Israel has relatively free elections. Probably free-er than American elections, unless of course you are a sub-human dog of an Arab.

There is no doubt that these policies have the support of the Israeli people. There essentially is no 'peace' party left in Israeli politics. The Labor party supports these attacks, and has not offered a peaceful alternative. If there was a peace party to the left of Labor, it got about as much support as McKinney and Nader got in the US elections.

And, Israel is a parliamentary democracy, which means a government can be recalled at any time and new elections called. So, if the Israeli people don't support this, they could immediately have a vote of no-confidence and remove Netanyahoooooooo.

Sorry, but the evidence seems to indicate that most of the Israeli populace supports the murderous and evil policies of the Israeli government.

There are three major parties in Israel. Please show me the statement of any of the leaders of any of these parties that is critical of this murder on the high seas.

Well it appears that Israel has wasted no time in paying Turkey back for daring to broker a unilateral nuclear solution with Iran. My advice to any Brazilian ships in the Mediterranean is to drop any rocks you are holding and get out before Apache helicopters start hovering over your heads.

Israel is toast and the U.S. will soon dump it as lightly as we dumped Chiang's gang.
Obama (Uncle Bam) is toast too, completely under the thumb of a foreign power.
Can you imagine George Washington putting up with this?

Here's another famous blockade-running ship. Three dead, dozens injured when they were boarded in international waters and returned to Europe during the British blockade of the Palestine coastline. But they too kept trying to run that illegal blockade, 'vicious terrorists' that they were. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exodus.jpg

Talk about "spinning a story". Turkey still won't admit that it brutally slaughtered almost 2 million innocent Armenians in a genocide. Turkey has officially denied its role in the mass murder for nearly a century.

It's time to end the shameful Turkish silence. Confess your guilt, Turkey! You know your hands are drenched in blood.

You bloodthirsty pricks want to commit nuclear genocide more than anyone on the planet. Who would have guessed that "Nuke Israel" was the default position among the peace-loving, Ghandi-like contributors to "Antiwar.com". My my!

Seldom do so many bottom-feeding hypocrites gather in one place at one time. By all means, keep posting your dreck. It's a useful reminder about the true nature of this website's intended audience…and agenda.

LMAO, let's all talk about Turkey or Iran – anything but Israeli crimes! And if you don't, you're Hitler.
Attacking an aid ship in international waters and murdering aid workers is a crime by any human beings standards. I appreciate our Israeli friends for showcasing the difference.
God Bless America.